EP0150538A2 - Einrichtung und Verfahren zum Bearbeiten von Gegenständen in ihnen zugeordneten Bearbeitungsstationen - Google Patents

Einrichtung und Verfahren zum Bearbeiten von Gegenständen in ihnen zugeordneten Bearbeitungsstationen Download PDF

Info

Publication number
EP0150538A2
EP0150538A2 EP84201925A EP84201925A EP0150538A2 EP 0150538 A2 EP0150538 A2 EP 0150538A2 EP 84201925 A EP84201925 A EP 84201925A EP 84201925 A EP84201925 A EP 84201925A EP 0150538 A2 EP0150538 A2 EP 0150538A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
stations
station
objects
treatment
allocated
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP84201925A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0150538A3 (de
Inventor
Henk Van Essen
Reyer Van Den Broek
Berend Van De Berg
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Administratie- en Automatiseringscentrum Vulcaan BV
Original Assignee
Administratie- en Automatiseringscentrum Vulcaan BV
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Administratie- en Automatiseringscentrum Vulcaan BV filed Critical Administratie- en Automatiseringscentrum Vulcaan BV
Publication of EP0150538A2 publication Critical patent/EP0150538A2/de
Publication of EP0150538A3 publication Critical patent/EP0150538A3/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C5/00—Sorting according to a characteristic or feature of the articles or material being sorted, e.g. by control effected by devices which detect or measure such characteristic or feature; Sorting by manually actuated devices, e.g. switches
    • B07C5/36—Sorting apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution
    • B07C5/361—Processing or control devices therefor, e.g. escort memory
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C5/00—Sorting according to a characteristic or feature of the articles or material being sorted, e.g. by control effected by devices which detect or measure such characteristic or feature; Sorting by manually actuated devices, e.g. switches
    • B07C5/16—Sorting according to weight
    • B07C5/24—Sorting according to weight using moving weighing mechanisms, e.g. moving along a circular path

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a device for subjecting objects to a treatment, which objects move one behind the other in a track along which treatment stations are positioned, said device being provided with an allocation instrument for determining in which treatment station or stations each of said objects has to be submitted to a treatment, said allocation instrument being provided with means for generating signals, characteristics for activating the allocated station or stations, a delay means being present to delay said signals over a time period corresponding to the time the objects need to travel from the allocation instrument to an allocated station, each station being provided with an actuation mechanism and means being provided to correct the delay of the said delay means for deviations in the time the objects needs for travelling from the allocation instrument to an allocated station.
  • the step period is divided in a large number of for instance 500 equal sub steps.
  • the step period is the period the objects need to travel over the distance occupied by an object or the center-to-center distance of two adjacent objects.
  • a marker means travels with the objects and at the location of each station a check signal is generated which in a computer is used to determine the exact sub step in which the object is in cooperative relation with the station. If, for instance by reason of elongation of a conveyor to which the objects are attached, the center to center distance of two adjacent objects, to be called the step distance, has changed, the computer is adjusted to let the station respond again in the right moment.
  • This known device has the disadvantage, that it is only possible to correct the sub step value once in the time the conveyor needs to travel along its entire track. This means, that when starting the device in the first run no exact adjustment of the sub step value has occurred, which is rather serious, because any conveyor elongation may be due to temperature deviations and consequently may change during a machine stop, which may be the night (or weekend) over.
  • a second disadvantage is, that a corrected sub step value has to be available for each treatment station for calculating the corrected moment for actuation of the related station. This means that a considerable computer capacity has to be used for this purpose.
  • the invention aims to overcome these difficulties and to provide a device which is more reliable, needs a smaller computer capacity, avoids difficulties with starting or restarting the device and allows for at least limited adjustments of the location of the stations, even with running machine.
  • a further aim of the invention is to obtain the above indicated results with only little additional apparatus.
  • the above aims are attained by providing that the delay means are adapted to cause a delay that is smaller than the time the objects need to reach the allocated station and in that at at least some stations a detector is present for detecting the presence of an object generating a further signal AND circuit means being provided to combine the said signal and the said further signal to generate a control signal for the actuation mechanism of the allocated station.
  • the delay devices are adapted to issue an output signal having a duration equalling the time period the objects need to travel over the step distance of the objects in the track.
  • the complete step period is available for actuating the related treatment station and that practically no limitations exist as to the location of the treatment stations, which would be the case if the signal procured by the allocation device would emit pulses of a duration shorter than the step period.
  • tie actuation mechanisms have an actuation member which can take two positions, namely an inactive and an active position, the actuation members being adapted to be moved by the actuation mechanism on receipt of a control signal and to remain in said active position when the same station is also allocated to the object immediately following the object which caused the actuation member to take its active position.
  • the actuation mechanism needs not to be reset if the next object has to be treated in the same station. This allows not only for a smoother working of the device but also gives a better use of the time available for setting and resetting, which time now can be extended, because the resetting can be carried out in the next step period.
  • the treatment stations are combined to form sets, one of the treatment stations belonging to a set being controlled by an actuation mechanism and the other stations of the set being controlled by said one station.
  • This embodiment of the invention is specially useful when the distance between corresponding points of juxtapositioned treatment stations, to be called the station width, is larger than the step distance. In that instance it is difficult to control the stations unambiguously without subdividing the step period in a rather high extend. Nevertheless the important advantages are attained which result from having the station width smaller than the step distance, which advantages are among other a shorter machine length and consequently a smaller travelling speed of the objects with the same capacity of the machine.
  • a further improvement of the invention provides that the treatment stations or sets of treatment stations are combined to groups, one of the stations or sets of stations of a groupt being provided with a detector and that this detector supplies the further control signal for the other stations or sets of stations of the group.
  • a constructively simple embodiment of the invention provides that the delay devices are shift registers and that a pulse shaper is present feeding a small integer number of shift pulses to the shift registers in each step period of the device.
  • the number of steps corresponding to a step distance is as small as possible. If for instance the distance between treatment stations (the station width) is 2/3 of the step distance three pulses per step period suffice, in which case a following station is reached after two pulses.
  • the delay devices and/or the actuation mechanisms and/or the AND circuits are part of a computer device such as a computer or a microprocessor.
  • a container is to be defined as any member able to contain, support, grip or in any other way bear anything, for instance an egg gripper or a fruit scale.
  • the invention can also bo applied to devices having a number of parallel tracks along which the objects travel, as has been shown in European Patent EF-A-0 028 527 or in EP-A-0 108 439.
  • the invention encompasses a method for controlling treatment stations for treating objects selected out of a row of objects moving one behind the other along a fixed track, in which at a first location along said track is indicated which objects have to be treated in which stations, signals being transmitted from said location to said stations, said signals being delayed with a time period mainly corresponding to the time period an object needs to travel from the said first location to the station allocated to it, which method is characterized in that in the near neighbourhood of the allocated treatment station the presence of the objects is detected, which detection determines the moment for executing the treatment.
  • FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a grading machine in which by means of feeding webs 1 and 2 objects are fed to transfer conveyors 3 and 4, which cooperate with bearing members 5, which are schematically indicated at 5 and which are moved in the direction of arrow 6 by an endless chain 7.
  • bearing members each bear two balances, each provided with an egg gripper.
  • an allocation device 9 which consists of two members which each cooperate with one of the balances of each bearing member 5 or with the other of them.
  • the data of the allocation device 9 are fed to an electronical processor 10 which determines to which of the discharge stations 12 the object in the related balance has to be sent.
  • Communication lines run from processor 10 to the different discharge stations 12 and are provided with shift registers 11. For clarity's sake in the drawing only the 2nd, 10 th and 15th of these lines have been shown.
  • the discharge stations in the shown embodiment have been mounted in groups of four, namely firstly one for the balances at the innerside of the conveyor 7, then two successive ones for the balances located at the outerside of the said conveyor and again one for the balances at the inner side, the four discharge stations normally being organized such, that the first two of them are allotted to a first weight class and the next two to another weight class.
  • the objects discharged by the discharge stations 12 come on transport webs 13 which may be provided with packages for the objects.
  • the latter can damp out over the distance A.
  • a division in unambiguous weight regions is realized by means of guides 8 in a way known per se in the distance B, at the end of which the position taken by the balances is read by the allocation device 9 and fed to the processor 10 which determines which of the lines starting from 10 has to be energized.
  • the time the balances need to cover the track portion C and the part of track portion D to the allocated discharge station corresponds to the delay of the shift registers 11, which receive a shift pulse when the chain 7 travels over the step distance.
  • a schematical embodiment hereof has been shown in fig. 2, in which the entrance of a discharge station 12 has been depicted.
  • the balances have guide rolls 14 cooperating with fixed guides 15.
  • a switch plate 16 is normally in the position indicated with interrupted lines and can pivot about pivot 17.
  • a link 18 connects the switch plate 16 with the armature 19 of an electro-magnet 20.
  • the balance which is connected to roll 14 also bears a marker 21, which may consist of any detectable part of a balance or bearing member and which can cooperate with a detector 22.
  • the marker 21 can be a permanent magnet in which instance detector 22 can be a Reed contact, but it is also possible that marker 21 contains an electrically conducting portion and detector 22 an oscillator the tuning or damping of which is influenced by the vicinity of 21.
  • each other detector system such as a photo sensitive one can be used also.
  • the output of 22 is connected to one input of an AND gate 23.
  • the other input of this gate is connected to the output 24 of the concerned shift register 11.
  • the output of the AND gate 23 energizes the electro- magnet 20.
  • switch plate 16 After receipt of a control pulse on 24 indicating that the next roll 14 has to be conducted to the branch guide 25, the marker 21 will cooperate with detector 22. This happens at a moment at which roll 14 is in/accurately determined position with respect to the switch plate 16, which is elected such, that sufficient time is available for switching the switch plate 16. This eliminates all difficulties with respect to activating the switch plate 16 too early or too late.
  • switch plate 16 is reset by means of its tail portion 26, actuated by roller 14 when running on guide 27.
  • graph 11 shows the output of a shift register 11 which firstly during one step period 29 is high, then two step periods low and then two successive step periods 30 high.
  • Line 22 shows the output of detector 22.
  • the pulses 28 shown in solid lines all show the same timing with respect to shift register pulses such as 29 or 30. If, however, for some reason they should deviate from this timing, a 2 has been indicated with pulse 28', shown in interrupted lines, electromagnet 20 will be energized in exactly the same way. Because, however, the location of detector 21 is related to that of switch plate 16 the latter still will be actuated when roll 14 is at the desired location with respect to the switch plate. The pulses 28 may occur in the whole time period corresponding to 29.
  • pulse 30 still exists, so that a pulse for setting the switch plate pauses the related AND gate 23, but this has no influence, because the switch plate still is set.
  • Fig. 4 shows an example of a circuit with electrical reset.
  • the electromagnetic relay 20' is of the polarized or bistabile type, which means that it takes a position after energizing a first circuit and only takes its second position after energizing a second circuit.
  • these circuits have been indicated with 31 and 32.
  • a differentiating circuit 33 reacts on the trailing edge of the shift register output 24 and is adapted to energize the reset circuit 32.
  • a detector 22 and switch plate 16 is only present for each set of six discharge stations.
  • the stations 35 1 , 3 52 ?? 35 6 of the first set cover the region indicated with arrow 36.
  • the follow stations 35 2 .... 35 6 are mechanically controlled for successively discharging all containers sent to them by the related switch plate.
  • Such sets of discharge stations are known, for instance the United States Patent Specification no. 3,749,260.
  • the invention has the advantage, that the location of the switch point 35 1 can be freely selected between two bars 34 1 .... 34 8 and that nevertheless the possibility is created to use discharge stations having a width that is considerably smaller than the step distance.
  • the discharge station sets have to be spaced from each other, for instance to allow for space between two output webs, it is only necessary to locate the next detector clearly between two bars 34,f.i. 34 6 and 34 7 .
  • Fig. 6 shows a practical embodiment of the invention.
  • the references 11,14,15,16,17,21,22 and 24 have the same meaning as in fig. 2, it being remarked that a spring 18a biases switch plate 16 in the inactive or reset position, which is indicated with interrupted lines.
  • Members 14 and 21 pertain to a first container and 14a and 21a to a second one.
  • Reference 42 is a so called data flip flop. This flip flop has the feature to give an energizing output on its Q terminal, by line 38 connected to electromagnet 20, if simultaneously a high signal is received on its D and C inputs, connected to the shift register output 24 and via line 37 to detector 22 respectively.
  • graph 39 shows the clock pulse for the shift registers, a step only being made at the downward edges of 40,40b and so on.
  • Graph 24 shows the shift register output, the leading and trailing edges of which correspond to the downward edges 40 of graph 39.
  • Graph 37 shows the pulses 41 generated by detector 22, when the markers 21 pass.
  • graph 38 shows the energizing pulses of the electro- magnet 20. Only if a pulse 41 coincides with part of a pulse of graph 24 an energizing pulse of a duration that is determined by the data flip flop 42 is sent to 20. This duration equals the duration between two successive downward edges of clock graph 39. By reason hereof it is easily possible to maintain power on electromagnet 20 in more than one successive step periods.
  • detector 22 is located somewhat ahead of the left end of switch plate 16, so that sufficient time is available to set this plate.
  • detector 22 has roll 14 already moved so far on that at the moment marker 21a cooperates with detector 22 roll 14 docs not hamper switch plate 16 to move from the set position into the inactive position or vice versa.
  • shift register output 24 becomes high, which at the occurrence of pulse 41 causes magnet 20 to be energized until pulse 41a occurs. Then at downward edge 40b shift register output 24 becomes high for two successive clock periods until edge 40d. Pulse 41b causes 38 to become energized and pulse 41c prolongs the activation duration of data flip flop 42. Finally pulse 41d again has no influence, because then shift register output 24 is low.

Landscapes

  • Control Of Conveyors (AREA)
  • Discharge Of Articles From Conveyors (AREA)
  • Branching, Merging, And Special Transfer Between Conveyors (AREA)
EP84201925A 1984-01-27 1984-12-21 Einrichtung und Verfahren zum Bearbeiten von Gegenständen in ihnen zugeordneten Bearbeitungsstationen Withdrawn EP0150538A3 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
NL8400261 1984-01-27
NL8400261A NL8400261A (nl) 1984-01-27 1984-01-27 Inrichting voor het in een uit een aantal bewerkingsstations bewerken van daartoe aangewezen voorwerpen.

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0150538A2 true EP0150538A2 (de) 1985-08-07
EP0150538A3 EP0150538A3 (de) 1985-09-11

Family

ID=19843396

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP84201925A Withdrawn EP0150538A3 (de) 1984-01-27 1984-12-21 Einrichtung und Verfahren zum Bearbeiten von Gegenständen in ihnen zugeordneten Bearbeitungsstationen

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0150538A3 (de)
JP (1) JPS60167820A (de)
NL (1) NL8400261A (de)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2214152A (en) * 1988-01-20 1989-08-31 Nippon Denki Home Electronics Distributive conveyance and inspection system

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0028527A1 (de) * 1979-11-05 1981-05-13 Fmc Corporation System und Verfahren zum Sortieren von Gegenständen nach bestimmten physikalischen Eigenschaften
GB1602911A (en) * 1978-02-09 1981-11-18 Tamkin Elec Control Services Distributing apparatus
EP0048525A1 (de) * 1980-09-22 1982-03-31 Administratie- en Automatiseringscentrum Vulcaan B.V. Klassiereinrichtung
GB2086629A (en) * 1980-10-27 1982-05-12 Emhart Ind Ware identifying apparatus for glassware machines and the like
EP0108439A2 (de) * 1982-11-02 1984-05-16 Administratie- en Automatiseringscentrum Vulcaan B.V. Wiegevorrichtung

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB1602911A (en) * 1978-02-09 1981-11-18 Tamkin Elec Control Services Distributing apparatus
EP0028527A1 (de) * 1979-11-05 1981-05-13 Fmc Corporation System und Verfahren zum Sortieren von Gegenständen nach bestimmten physikalischen Eigenschaften
EP0048525A1 (de) * 1980-09-22 1982-03-31 Administratie- en Automatiseringscentrum Vulcaan B.V. Klassiereinrichtung
GB2086629A (en) * 1980-10-27 1982-05-12 Emhart Ind Ware identifying apparatus for glassware machines and the like
EP0108439A2 (de) * 1982-11-02 1984-05-16 Administratie- en Automatiseringscentrum Vulcaan B.V. Wiegevorrichtung

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2214152A (en) * 1988-01-20 1989-08-31 Nippon Denki Home Electronics Distributive conveyance and inspection system
US4999578A (en) * 1988-01-20 1991-03-12 Nec Home Electronics Ltd. Function inspecting system

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS60167820A (ja) 1985-08-31
EP0150538A3 (de) 1985-09-11
NL8400261A (nl) 1985-08-16

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US4181947A (en) Conveyor sorting system
US3493728A (en) Card feed mechanism for a high-speed card reader
US5165515A (en) Segmented pusher control for conveying system
US4171130A (en) Control of withdrawal of flat items individually from a stack
EP0343613B1 (de) Verfahren für die Kontrolle der exakten Positionierung von Gegenständen zum Sortieren bei einer automatischen Sortieranlage
US4604704A (en) High-speed microprocessor-controlled branch conveyor
US3955678A (en) Sorting system
US5782332A (en) Device and corresponding method for grouping together random product flows into a single path according to a pre-established and adjustable rate of advance
EP1115121B1 (de) Bestrahlungssystem mit Fördereinrichtung für Artikelträgerelemente
US3093245A (en) Segregation mechanism
US3774040A (en) Photoelectric system for grading objects according to size
US4732261A (en) Method and apparatus for assembling and forwarding sets of sheets
JP2800142B2 (ja) 魚を位置決めする装置
US4086998A (en) Article grader
EP0130810B1 (de) Förderband-Sortiersystem
EP0276499B1 (de) Vorrichtung zum Formen einer Gruppe, zusammengesetzt aus einer festgesetzten Anzahl von Scheiben
EP0150538A2 (de) Einrichtung und Verfahren zum Bearbeiten von Gegenständen in ihnen zugeordneten Bearbeitungsstationen
GB2164909A (en) Garment sorting apparatus
US4164291A (en) Sorting apparatus
GB1055667A (en) Apparatus for supervising objects intended for movement along a path of travel
US3791515A (en) Document sorting and handling machines
US2984366A (en) Conveyor system
US4158976A (en) Discharge device for a wire cutter
JPH0569937A (ja) 仕分装置の仕分基準値自動設定方法
EP0084905A2 (de) Fördereinrichtung zum Sortieren von Stückgut

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
PUAI Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009012

PUAL Search report despatched

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009013

AK Designated contracting states

Designated state(s): DE FR GB IT NL

AK Designated contracting states

Designated state(s): DE FR GB IT NL

17P Request for examination filed

Effective date: 19851010

STAA Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent

Free format text: STATUS: THE APPLICATION IS DEEMED TO BE WITHDRAWN

18D Application deemed to be withdrawn

Effective date: 19870703

RIN1 Information on inventor provided before grant (corrected)

Inventor name: VAN DE BERG, BEREND

Inventor name: VAN DEN BROEK, REYER

Inventor name: VAN ESSEN, HENK